Dear Matilda -- a Prelude to Two

Dear Matilda,

It's you. Yes, you. You are emerging as your own person. With your own preferences, demands, style (you LOVE those kitty jammies), and quirks. You have a personality. And it is one that I adore. My lack of Matilda details these last few months on the blog kills me because you have done so many things, and said so many thing I want to capture and remember forever. And the absence is not a reflection of my not noticing you or those little tiny moments, it is my inability to find time to blog.

You light up the room when you arrive announcing with a loud "HI MAMA", and ensure no one misses your exit either.  You are becoming more social, and less skeptical of strangers. There are still moments of shy caution, but you offer up greetings and smiles more often.  You hold out your arm, and wave your fingers to friends as if to say "come play with me".

You are obsessed with animals. But really only in theory. Once you have the chance to get close to puppies, kitties, etc, you kind of freak out a little. Every time we go for a walk, you basically ask for us to find you puppies the entire time. And, we do a pretty good job rodeo-clowning you to believe we are on a puppy hunt and not just a family walk. 

You are turning into a polite little girl. Saying  please and thank you. To that end, you are talking up a storm. Stringing new words together to form new sentences every day. You now call Daddy, Dah-dee. It is precious, and melts his heart (something I am sure we will need to lock down in the very near future). You are so excited to tell us stories when you go on an adventure with only one of us. "Mama, guy up down up down beep beep, up high".....the most recent story of your escapade to Home Depot where you saw a guy on a lift getting some lumber.

You can't pronounce your "c" if it comes at the front of a word. Cat is "dat" (pretty confusing since that is also you 'that'). BUT, if the word ends in a "ck" or "k", you take such. great. care. annunciate every single syllable. Ducks becomes a 5-second word to say because you say "du" and the "cks" comes very thoughtfully and carefully after.

You love your Daddy. So much. 

And you love his bike, and that he bikes. Every morning running to the window to watch him bike away. And EVERY person you see on a bike while we are out and about you say: Daddy Bike. You love trying on all of his gear and 'tickling' him with his big winter gloves.

                                                   

You still love Peek a Boo. But what I love is that now you say "Peek" and then when you look you say "See you". Ugh. I die for it every time.

 I also love seeing you get frustrated. Not because I like to see you frustrated but because I see a determined, persistent little girl emerging that is going to be ready to take on this world. Yesterday morning you were making a stack of books that kept toppling over and you got. so. mad. that they wouldn't stack. But you figured it out, and eventually got them stacked juuuuust so.

And, you are now a big sister. And you are a great big sister. It has been a lot of change for us. And a lot of change for you. And I am so proud of you, and how much you already love your baby sister. Announcing "Bea's up!" whenever you hear her in the morning (because let's face it, you are still our little 5:50AM alarm clock), and  pointing to your eyes whenever Bea is crying, even suggesting to me "Bea milk" in case I hadn't thought of that.

You love to play "Ready, Set, Go"...whether it is to start a race, go down the slide or run circles in the living room. I would be lying if I told you I hadn't used that to my advantage to get you to get your hat on. Coat on. Shoes on. Pretty much anything I can use this game for, I do. But that is how much you love it. 

                                           

The obsession with monkeys is real, but partially our fault as it is your only interaction with videos to this point. You will sit and watch the same 8 minute, 6 second BBC documentary clip on monkeys every day. And will beg for more every time you see Daddy or I with our phone.

You have a happy heart. And even though M-I-N-E is your favorite word right now, you love to be around other kids. Cautiously watching from the sidelines before you jump in and play. As they said in your daycare conference: "you are happy to play with others, but are quite content on your own path as well." And I hope you keep that as you get older. It will serve you well because sometimes that path everyone else is on, isn't the right one for you.

You are getting ready to turn 2!! And I can't wait to see what this next year holds for you. My big girl. Who will probably always be getting too old too fast for me.

90 Minutes

Up until yesterday, I have pretty much been holding Beatrice for all of her naps, and then once she woke up would fly around and triage myself. Bathroom. Water. Food.

It isn't sustainable. And I know that. But gosh darn it, I was going to get through the 6 week fussies with my sanity in tact. Now, that we have accomplished that (although the sanity is probably up for debate), it is time to nap this girl in her bassinet.

We have done the occasional nap in the 'baby taco' but she wakes up after about 30 minutes (hence the holding). Why settle for a 30 minute nap when you can have 2.5 hours, even if it means submitting your body to a chair for that amount of time and potentially losing a limb from severe blood loss?

So it was with bated breath that I set Bea down yesterday. Swaddle. White Noise. Paci.

NINETY MINUTES later she woke up. WHAT?!?! Insane. Blew my mind.

I learned two things yesterday:
1) Bea did a pretty darn good job napping.
2) You can get a PILE of stuff done in 90 minutes.

Don't believe me? Here is what I got done, and on my girl scout honor I am not embellishing this:

- wrote 3 thank you notes (although I still need to address them)
- Finished Bea's birth announcements and purchased
- 2 loads of laundry
- Ate lunch
- Cleaned a cantelope
- Got dinner prepped
- Called the insurance company
- Called Park Nicollet to get insurance resubmitted (personally, this is the biggest accomplishment)
- Called doctor
- Updated Bea's baby book
- Organized my recipe binder
- Finished editing pictures for our 2012 Family yearbook


All of that. I got all of that done in 90 minutes. My mind is swimming with possiblities of what I can do with my time if the child continues to sleep in the bassinet, which she will most likely not ever do again now that I have told the world.

But sure as I am blogging now....with two hands....the babe is napping. Not in my arms.

The time is now...

We have made it to the dreaded 6 week mark. The week when fussiness is supposed to peak. This is the 2nd in four of my 'mama milestones' to survive through (the first was the equivalent date that colic presented itself in Matilda). And now that we are here, I am in battle mode.

The 6-week fussies are real.

What I can't figure out is if the fussies are the week leading up to the 6-week birthday or are the week after the official date.

And I suppose it doesn't really matter because Bea was a bear last week, and is making nice with me this week, so I am going to go with the former theory.

The moby is out in full force. Music is blasting for the 'hoochie cooching' hours. And we are bringing out the big guns....the paci. And more importantly, I have my 'this too shall pass' attitude, which was no where to be found the first time around (probably because no one could possible talk me into the fact that it would actually pass).

So, wish us luck, and if you don't hear from us until next week, you now know why.

In related news, if anyone is interested in some cheap birth control, I have an infant I can lend to you for the next week.....

One month

I am pretty stoked to report that we have officially made it through the first month. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious to be able to very quickly report the same on the 2nd month. Newborns are just not my jam.

Don't get me wrong--it is pretty amazing to get to do some serious snuggling with the likes of Beatrice.

The first month of Bea's life was pretty sublime compared to Matilda's (at least from my perspective). And I hate to compare. But Bea was a champion nurser, finishing her meals in record time and making it much more reasonable to consider nursing her anywhere.

Because of the above, she started sleeping longer at night much quicker. We were getting pretty solid 5 hour stretches within a week (8P-Midnight or 1AM). She didn't require any hoochie coochie or paci plugging in between night feedings. But went back down relatively easy.

And during the day...there was lots of sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.

Beatrice has an expression of curiosity when she is awake. Always raising her eyebrows..

..as if to say, "Oh hey, Mama. Whatchya doin'?"

Nate and I have declared the first 8 weeks as survival mode. Which for us means no apologies for take-out, pick-up or PB&J dinners. Bedtimes that have an 8 in the beginning of them. And really honest conversations about what we need to keep surviving. Like my request for some Bea-free time tonight.

One of the requests from Nate was some extended nights at work so he could get caught up. He has been doing amazing getting home to help out with the witching hours.

And so, Pop Pop was called up to duty and he headed up to Minneapolis to get the three girls. The morning we left he got strapped with a 3 hour Bea nap....tough tough work.

And then, just a few days before Beatrice's 1 month birthday, we went for our first road trip back to Viroqua. And this time, Mom got to try her hand at a Bea snooze in the Moby.

Just before 4 weeks, Bea got struck with some serious witching hour infliction. Lots of soothing required. And her soothing of choice seems to change frequently. It was moby wraps and disco music/dancing. And the last few nights it's cool weather and a paci. So we keep trying things. And she definitely keeps letting us know if we are right or now.

Unfortunately, Bea also had her first Readycare appointment this month as Typhoid Tillie brought home a nasty cold and pink-eye. And so we had our first trip to the doctor where BOTH girls were seen a mere week after we were home from the hospital....

And so we celebrate the first month coming to a close. And the fact that we are still standing as a family of 4 (and that we have avoided Matilda crushing Bea's skull to this point). The good thing about the second time around is that you have full knowledge of all that is to come. And yes there are some "oh yeah, we have to do that again...", but from what we have learned, it just keeps getting better.

Do Work!

When we were in Viroqua, my Dad piled all of the 'big' kids into his truck to help him do chores down at the office. It was a super special trip because there were no car seats required for the approximately .9 miles to his office. It gave me a little glimpse into how easy life will be when we are done strapping kids into car seats (which will be approximately 15 years for us with the new laws...)...

These chores were really just a giant ploy to take them out for ice cream, but he did a good job of masking it with necessity for 'rock picking' and 'stick gathering'.

We walked across the street and into my old stomping grounds of Dairy Queen. Ahhh..DQ. My high school gig that helped bring in some cash for college. Now, a place where a twinkle is brought to my daughters eye.

And also produces a death grip like none other. No one, and I mean NO ONE was taking this thing from her.

All of the kids were happy.

I love this picture. It totally captures how impossible it is to get an amazing shot of all three. Finn is striking a super hero pose. Leo had just gotten done licking the giant plastic cone. And Matilda looks like she is trying to suppress a giggle in a very girlie fashion.

Glorious Sun

With the forecast calling for 2-5 inches of snow starting tomorrow, I need to focus my energy on remembering how GORGEOUS it was this past weekend.

And lucky for us we were gathered in Viroqua with the whole fam to enjoy it.

My dad capitalized on the extra manpower and put us all to work doing some yard-work, and I don't think anyone actually even cared because the sun was shining for the first time in what seems like 6 months, and the kids were ecstatic to be outside.

These three were happy as could be running around, going down the slide and spending lots of time (per Tillie's insistence) on the seesaw.

Which she only enjoyed a little bit....

 I LOVE seeing the three of them together, playing. Tillie is absolutely without a doubt obsessed with Leo, and I think has been dreaming about him every night since we left because she wakes up saying "LEO!"

Bea even got some quality outdoors time with Grandma!

All I know is that this family is desperate for good weather and warm temps to be here for good for a while. Not just because Ms. Matilda sleeps like a log after running around all day in the fresh air.....

#SecondTimeMom

I love it when I see a piece of advertising that so clearly hits the nail on the head for me. Most recently, this has been the Luv's diapers "Second Time Mom" campaign. If you haven't seen the commercial here it is:



I have been having my own handful of second time mom moments that make me equal parts proud and cringe at the same time.

Most recently, I had a quick visit to the doctor that I brought Bea with for. She was a little fussy and had intermittent crying/fussing. The nurse offered to take her so I could get undressed and have my appointment.

I politely declined and said we should be fine.

While this conversation was going on, she was taking my blood pressure. By the time that activity was over, and she offered a second time to take Bea, I briefly paused.

And then I said, yup. Go ahead and take her. Baby was dry, and fed.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little anxious by the time my appointment finally starting. Mostly feeling very guilty that these nurses now had an additional job on top of the job they were trying to do.

And then a little of me thought...holy hell. Here I am in the doctor's office having a very rare child-free moment.

And then I had a small moment with myself about how so much has changed and is different because it would have been a cold day in hell the day I turned Tillie over to a nurse. Not because I didn't trust them but because of my mom guilt, fear of her melting down, and embarrassment over my inability to get her to calm down.

But, Bea? Send her out. And she did great.

Go me and my second time mom-ness.